


Rachel’s Personal Prom

by Cloudbustings



Series: Queen Rachel [1]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Crushes, F/F, Fem! Reddie, Fluff, High School, Pre-Relationship, Prom, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Lesbian Character, fem! Eddie, fem! Richie, lesbian reddie, trans positivity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24746515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudbustings/pseuds/Cloudbustings
Summary: How great is it to have friends who love and support you so much that they organise a “Second Prom” just for the seven of you so that you can wear a dress and look the way you want without having to publicly come out before you’re ready? The answer is: VERY great.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Series: Queen Rachel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789450
Comments: 6
Kudos: 45





	Rachel’s Personal Prom

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I’ve been working on this fic since winter! There are lots of reddie fics in this fandom that include either Richie or Eddie as gay trans men, but none that feature Richie or Eddie as lesbian trans women, so I decided to write one. Since I’m a cis female (though I have a complicated relationship with gender) I feel if I’m going to create content with trans characters, I’m going to write them as happy, loved, safe, and self loving. Though dysphoria and societal transphobia can cause a pain for trans people and put them at risk, pain and unhappiness isn’t the summary of the trans experience even if it is an undeniable piece of it. The piece that is beauty and humanity is and always should be far larger and more celebrated. Therefore I will be writing a Rachel Tozier who will be nervous and unconfident at first as everyone is wont to be about their identities as they figure them out, but who will always love her transness and who will only become more confident over time.

Music pounded out through amps on the floor, and the gymnasium was dark for the most part, except for one small section of a wall which was decorated with lights that were woven through the bars that closed off the student store. Young women in short satin dresses with noodle straps laughed and pushed each other around by the shoulders, and by the concessions table a group of young men in tuxedos picked at cookies that had been baked and served by volunteers, most of which had students somewhere in the crowd. The occasional solitary couple twirled around and bounced on their soles together to the beat.

There was also, of course, a group of natural outcasts. Even spread out as they were across the gym from the drink station to the bleachers, they were still connected. Could spot each other from across the room despite its length..

“Did you have the sound system set up for later when you left?” Edith asked Mike as she poured him a portion of sprite into a Dixie cup. He took the cup when it was filled and nodded into the rim of it while he took a sip. 

“Yeah. I like the CDs you gave me. Listened to ‘em yesterday with Bill, and he liked them too.” said Mike once he had lowered the cup from his mouth. Edith gave him a wide grin and poured a cup of root beer for herself. She watched Mike walk off in search of Bill.

When Mike found him, Bill was nodding his head absently to the beat all on his lonesome, sitting at a table with a lilac tablecloth draped over the plastic surface. A piece of half eaten pizza and a bushel of grapes sat on a disposable paper plate on the table beside him. He popped one green grape into his mouth and chewed, eyes finally rising to meet Mike’s as he approached.

“Did you get the snacks and soda?” Mike asked him. Bill smiled and swallowed the grape.

“Sh-sure thing.” 

“Jalepeño chips for Ben and mini pretzels for Stan?”

“A-Affirm-mative.”

“Root beer for Eddie?” said Mike, aiming finger guns at him. Bill rolled his eyes at the question, but he was smiling.

“Oh-of-f _ course. _ ”

Mike shrugged, holding his hands up as if to say ‘ _ don’t be mad! _ ’. He sat down in the chair behind Bill and dragged the plate of pizza over so he could finish it off himself. Bill chose to ignore Mike; instead he rose to his feet and scanned the crowd for Ben.

He found Ben dribbling a basketball by his lonesome next to the single lowered hoop in the corner of the gym. He shot the ball at the net and it bounced off the backboard. It was a strange sight, given that he was still wearing his tuxedo and dress shoes. Bill walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. When the ball returned, Ben caught it and turned around to look at whoever had tapped his shoulder. His face morphed from surprise, to recognition, and finally to a pleased smile.

“How’s it goin’ Big Bill?” said Ben. Bill smiled at the familiar nickname.

“Just wh-wanted to suh-see if you got the duh...decorations r-r- _ ready. _ ” said Bill.

“All finished and hung up, sir.” said Ben, saluting Bill. “Hey, d’you know where Beverly said she’d be sitting with Rachel and Stan?”

Bill looked over his shoulder at the bleachers. From where he stood, he could see three hunched figures cloaked in darkness on the highest row.

“Th-think they’re up there on the b-b-bleachers.” he said, and pointed to shadows.

“Thanks.” said Ben with a wave and a sweet smile as he dashed off with the basketball tucked under one arm.

When Ben approached them, Beverly and Stan were engaged in a heated conversation while Rachel stared silently off at the crowd. She was wearing a black tuxedo while Stan was wearing a white dress shirt, black dress pants, and a periwinkle bow tie. He caught Beverly’s eye and she paused, and then stood up. 

The dress she had on was the first one she had ever owned before in her life that wasn’t a bargain Goodwill purchase from a previous decade. Living with her aunt allows her some freedoms she’s never had before. Her aunt has a decent enough job, which allowed her to afford a new dress to wear to prom. The dress in question is a white minidress with wide straps and a thin black ribbon across the waist which tied into a small bow in the middle.

  
  


Ben flashed her a  _ come hither  _ motion and she cautiously worked her way down the bleachers in her black kitten heels. The way her dress rippled and her pale thighs were bared made his stomach flutter. She smiled, and her lips were painted with pink gloss which glittered in the low light of the gym.

“Hey…” said Ben, placing a hand on her shoulder as she came close. Beverly laughed. 

“Hey!” she said quietly. For a moment he forgot what he was going to say, but he looked to the bleachers and was met with Rachel’s solemn face and suddenly it rushed back to him.

“How is Rachel doing?” he asked, glancing between Beverly and Rachel with worry. In an instant, the smile fell from Beverly’s face.

“She’s...kind of gloomy. But she isn’t spiralling. We’re checking in on her and keeping her company. She’s definitely okay enough to laugh, ‘cause she’s done that a little bit.” she said, shifting in place. Her expression then brightened, and she looked sly, poking him in the stomach. “And how is our  _ surprise _ doing?”

“From what I saw when I finished decorating, it looked like everything was set up.”

“So you think we could go ahead and bounce from here?” 

Ben nodded with a smile. The grin she gave him lit up Beverly’s face like a Christmas tree. She clapped her palms together once and turned around to face Rachel and Stan, letting her flaming red hair swoop behind her and bounce as she hopped back up the steps.

Stanley murmured something to Rachel which made her laugh under her breath, holding her hand over her mouth to stifle the noise. She looked up at Beverly through her thick glasses and let her hand fall from her mouth to rest on the bench beside her.

“Well guys, it’s about time.” announced Beverly.

“About time for  _ what? _ ” said Rachel with confusion evident in her voice and in the way one of her black eyebrows raised. Unlike Rachel, Stan knew exactly what Beverly was talking about, and when she spoke he sat up ramrod straight. Anticipation and excitement was written across his features in his wide eyes and small smile. He grabbed Rachel’s hand and pulled her up from her seat on the bench. Rachel followed him, glancing at all of her friends in confusion as she passed them on her descent down each level of the bleachers.

By the time the four of them reached the exit of the gymnasium Mike, Bill, and Edith stood together waiting by the double doors. They smiled when the other four approached, and Mike pushed open one of the doors so that they could all slip through. Edith slipped in beside Rachel and placed a hand over the shoulder farthest from her, effectively pulling her closer to her side. 

“Have a good prom?” she said quietly, glancing at her.

“Well there weren’t any strippers,” she said dejectedly as she held up a finger for everything she began to list, “All the music was shit, and I’m pretty sure I saw some _teachers_ getting more action between each other than any one of the _students_. So it was kind of a drag.” she grinned, shrugging. To this, Edith snorted and shook her head at the ground before her.

As soon as they arrived at Mike’s house Beverly whisked Rachel away and up the stairs by her shoulders the moment she got her shoes off. Mike sighed and placed her dress shoes on the rack inside the coat closet. All the others made themselves comfortable on the old couch in the living room. Their conversation was lazy and happy, a testament to a good night out with friends.

Light shone out from a sliver of open doorway, cutting through the darkness of the hall. The room across from the master bedroom belongs to Mike, and he had so graciously offered it up to Beverly with the hopes that she’ll work her magic on Rachel. 

Funnily enough, Rachel blanched the moment she saw her pull out a makeup pallet. She had never talked about wearing makeup or looking pretty before. Whenever she brings up her appearance, she generally expresses that she just doesn’t look like a girl and she knows it. There’s hurt bubbling there under the surface which she never talks about. Hurt is making her already pale white skin look paler somehow, and cornered at the implications of Beverly holding a pallet in her hands.

It probably doesn’t help that the only reason Beverly even found out she’s trans is because she discovered stolen makeup under her bed and confronted her about it. She had no idea what to think at the time. Now, however, she knows for certain that she wants to make Rachel feel as beautiful as she really is.

“Rache? Can you sit on the bed for me?” she said and dropped the makeup on the frayed quilt covering Mike’s bed. Rachel looked to be at a loss for words, but she sat and watched Beverly as she opened the double doors to Mike’s closet cabinet and shuffled around the shirts. Out came a simple, silken, navy blue dress that Beverly shook out and held in front of her for Rachel to see.

“Is that...for  _ me? _ ” she said with disbelief. Beverly gave her a wide, warm grin.

“Yep. I picked it out and the others chipped in to pay for it.” she said. “What do you think of it?” Beverly twirled the dress around to give Rachel view of the whole thing. She was silent for a few moments when Beverly lowered the dress and searched her eyes only to find tears in them. Beverly gaped and rushed to her side at once with the dress still in hand. She rubbed the one that was free in circles around Rachel’s shoulder and pulled her in close. 

“Hey, hey…what’s wrong?” she asked in a soft tone of voice. Rachel choked out a sob. Her normally pale face was pink, and she reached down to stroke the fabric of the dress as it lay across Beverly’s lap.

“Do I get to keep it?” she asked tentatively through tears and sniffles. Beverly nodded furiously and shifted the dress into Rachel’s lap so that she could hold the fabric in her own hands and stare down at it.

“Of course! We got your size and everything, it’s yours now.” she insisted. This made Rachel sink her pink face into the palms of her hands to cry silently while her shoulders shook.

“I-I thought I’d have to wait  _ years  _ for s-something like this.” she whimpered, dropping one hand from her face so she could cradle her wet cheek with one and stroke the fabric with another. A wobbly smile appeared on her face and she began to laugh quietly, something that Beverly thought she wasn’t capable of due to her reputation as a loudmouth. Surprise, Trashmouth has feelings. Lots of them.

“D’you want to put it on now?” suggested Beverly. Rachel let out a shaky sigh and nodded as she stood up and wiped her cheeks. Beverly watched her from behind as she scanned the dress to figure out how to get into it. She stood and walked to the door. “I’ll give you some privacy. Tell me when you’re dressed, okay?”

Rachel gave her a thumbs up and so Beverly slipped out into the hallway and left Rachel to undress from her tuxedo.

Alone in the bedroom, Rachel began to untie her bow tie so she could toss it onto the bed along her suit jacket, button down shirt, and eventually her trousers too. It took a minute to figure out how she should get into the dress, but eventually she settled on bunching it up and slipping the bottom over her head. 

The fabric was tight and soft. She slipped her arms through the noodle straps and her head through the neckline. Never before had Rachel felt clothing as flimsy or as light as this. It swayed around her feet and made her feel strange for a moment, but when she turned around and saw herself in the mirror she began to feel something new. A surge of excitement, anxiety, and also self confidence.

She’s skinny with no curves, and her usual clothes make the sharp lines of her body stand out. The way she holds herself is often stiff and awkward, with limbs that are far too long. But the dress takes her height and build and makes her look more  _ slender _ than  _ lanky.  _ Navy blue stands out against ivory skin and it looks like a night sky. Her arms and legs are still as lengthy as ever, but they look  _ right  _ like this.  _ She _ looks right like this.

Rachel put on her glasses and approached the girl in the mirror. She bent forward as she came close to the surface of the glass. Once she was close enough, she supported herself in her crouching stance by resting her hands on her lap, turning her arms into pillars, then slid them down her thighs to feel the satin under her fingers. Satin is a material she’s never felt in her hands before. It’s unbelievably silky smooth.

Someone downstairs laughed loudly, and the noise snapped her out of her reverie. She looked over her shoulder at the door and walked over to it. When she opened the door she only opened it a crack and then called Beverly’s name. Loud, rushed footsteps came up the stairs in response. Beverly’s eager face appeared in the hallway and she jogged down the hall. Rachel stepped away from the door and let her enter by herself.

Beverly closed the door behind herself and turned around to face Rachel. Her eyes widened as she took in her appearance from head to toe. She touched a hand to her mouth. Nervous butterflies fluttered in a frenzy inside Rachel’s stomach as she waited for a response.

“Rachel...you look  _ beautiful.”  _ Beverly sighed, and her eyes were big and watery as she surged forward with outstretched arms. Rachel laughed and pulled her into a tight hug. She let her go and Beverly dashed over to the bed so she could scoop up the eyeshadow pallet and pull it open. She sat down on the bed and patted the space next to her, beckoning Rachel over. 

Ten minutes later, both girls jogged down the stairs, but Rachel stopped short when a wave of anxiety the likes of which she had never felt before crashed over her. Beverly made it a few more steps until she realized that her friend was no longer following, and she looked over her shoulder, turning slowly to face her with confusion and concern on her face. “Rache? What’s...why did you stop?” she asked.

Rachel bit her lip and took a step backward. Her long arms wrapped around her skinny body self consciously. Her eyes were downcast. “I’ve never looked like this before...not in front of other people. Once they see me, it’ll be real. They’ll all really know. I can’t take it back then…” she said quietly.

“Do you...do you  _ want  _ to take it back?” Beverly asked. Rachel’s eyes widened and she shook her head furiously.

“ _ Hell  _ no! I think I’d go insane if you guys kept calling me Richie for the rest of my life.” she insisted. “I just feel like once they see me dressed like this, they’ll know it’s as real as I feel it is...but it won’t be as exciting for them...they’ll just think I’m...fucked up…like Bowers says I am…” she adds in a whisper, staring hard at the grown with a severe knit in her brow and curling in on herself. “Oh shit, this was a mistake…”

Beverly gasps and shakes her head, holding her hands out in front of her as if to placate her. “No! You look beautiful, I’m serious! None of this was a mistake—you look the most like yourself I’ve ever seen you! They’re all going to think just as much!” she cried and pulled Rachel’s arms away from her chest to hold her gently by the wrists. “Nothing about you is fucked up! Especially not this. Bowers doesn’t know shit about anything!”

Though there was still doubt clouding her eyes, a small smile grew on Rachel’s face and her expression softened. She seemed to believe Beverly’s words. 

“You know what? I have an idea.” said Beverly, and without so much as a warning she dashed down the stairs and called for everyone’s attention. Rachel watched her back up to the bottom of the stairs with one arm outstretched.

“Hear ye, hear ye.” said Beverly with the firm tone of an announcer. “I introduce to you, Princess Rachel of the Midnight Kingdom.” Beverly’s open arm swung to point in Rachel’s direction. She flashed Rachel a grin and a smile, and that was her cue to start walking shyly down the staircase. She didn’t look up from her feet even when she reached the bottom. The open air of the living room felt too exposed, too vulnerable for her to face her friend’s reactions.

All was silent for a moment. Anxiety spiked in her stomach;  _ this is it. This is it. They’ve had it with your bullshit. They’re recording this and it’s gonna be in the newspaper tomorrow, just so everyone can laugh at you for being a- a- _

“Trashmouth cleans up _ nice.”  _ said a feminine voice that carried a great deal of emotion when they said it. Her eyes flicked up to meet Edith’s doe-like brown ones staring at her with so much adoration it made her heart skip a beat. She looked around and all her friends had smiles on their faces. Genuine ones. 

“Good thing we picked the blue dress instead of the turquoise one. It looks perfect on her.” said Ben, happy and looking like an overgrown puppy in his tuxedo with his rosy face and sweet, overjoyed smile. 

“Yuh-yeah, actually s-suh-seeing it on her I s-see what you mean.” Bill nodded his assent.

“Please just  _ don’t _ get potato chips on it.” said Mike. “Or like, any food. I know you, and if we don’t collectively make sure you eat like a human tonight, you won’t have a dress anymore and none of us have the money to buy you another one. As much as we might want to.” 

“Implying I don’t eat like a human…” said Rachel, hoping she didn’t sound as choked up to them as she felt.

“Y-y-you eat like a r-r-ravenous hy-yena.” snorted Bill.

“ _ Okay,  _ ignoring Rachel’s eating habits...how about we go outside?” Beverly swooped in and suggested with her arms outstretched towards the back door.

Rachel laughed nervously and accepted the hand Beverly extended to her, following her lead towards the door. “Is this the part where you guys kill me and hide the body in Mike’s barn?” she said with a few wary glances at each of her friends. Edith sidled up beside her from behind and hooked an arm around Rachel’s, gently and loosely interlocking the two of them like a guy would do for his date to a dance. She felt Beverly’s hand leave hers and Edith took over for her by pushing open the door and guiding her into the breezy night. Rachel’s lower jaw fell slack as she took in the sight before her.

The Hanlon family’s backyard is a fenceless meadow carpeted by grass and weeds and flowers, which is often levelled out in the summer by Mike and his father, but as the grass dies it’s left to grow wild in the winter and autumn. It’s spring now, and the grass is short, soft, and green underfoot. 

A pitch black void which has otherwise swallowed the rest of the landscape under the cover of night is broken only by the soft yellow glow of a v-shaped string of small light bulbs starting from the wall of the house and stretching to the wide trunk of a single, grandfather oak tree that springs out of the ground a yard in front of this side of the old and weathered house, bouncing back to the wall a few feet apart and equidistant from the beginning of the string on the same wall.

“Ta-dah! Your prom, Rachel!” sang Edith quietly beside her. Rachel’s mouth hadn’t yet closed. The silence grew tense, tense enough that Edith wiped her brow of nervous sweat and leaned forward to search her friend’s face for any sign of unhappiness or anger. She cried out in surprise and a little shock of automatic fear when Rachel turned around and engulfed her in a strong, firm hug, pulling her to her chest and squeezing like she intended to make her go  _ POP!  _

_ “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou-“  _ she repeated in a whisper. Edith gave a short laugh and stroked her back over the blue satin.

“Thank  _ me?  _ This was a group effort, Rache!” she exclaimed, throwing an arm out to gesture at the rest of their friends, all of them standing in the doorway watching the scene unfold with glowing warm grins and smiles on their faces. Rachel untucked her head from the crook of Edith’s neck and looked up at them, her eyes sparkling wet with unshed tears. A slow smile spread across her face.

“You guys are  _ insane.”  _ she whispered just loud enough for them to hear. “I-In a good way.” she added a little louder than before and delicately rubbed a knuckle in the outside corners of her eyes so as not to disturb her makeup. “Thank you all  _ so much _ .” she said, her voice dripping with emotion.

The rest of the night was spent taking turns putting on their favourite music and dancing with different partners, sometimes taking breaks inside the house where all the soda and snacks were spread out on the dining table, free for the taking.

Rachel got to dance with all of her friends, doing the twist with Bev, waving her arms around wildly with Bill, trying the tango with a shy Ben, getting into a dance off with Mike, getting twirled around by Stan with a calm look of amusement and fondness in his eyes. The only person she hadn’t got to dance with after an hour and a half was the one she wanted to dance with most of all, and when she finally did it seemed that everybody was waiting for this because the moment she turned to ask Edith to join her on the dance floor the music switched to the slow, romantic beat of Weak by SWV.

Rachel glanced nervously at the radio and looked back to Edith, who was looking back at her with a small smile. The expression on her face was warm and inviting with a touch of something unfamiliar, but bordering on fond. “Care to dance?” Rachel proposed to her quietly. Her vulnerability was rewarded with a nod.

She extended one pale hand and Edith took it, rising to her feet in her flats. She pressed forward, forcing Rachel to walk backwards, and her hands snaked up Rachel’s arms to her shoulders only to slide down again until one hand gently cradled her waist and the other entangled their fingers together, effectively putting them into perfect waltz position. They shuffled around the floor silently (aside from the music on the radio), basking in their own close proximity.

Eventually their chests were touching so much that Rachel was sure Edith must feel her heart beating fast inside her chest whenever they touched. The world outside them seemed to lose its detail and distinction until gradually they were the only people on the planet and they were dancing alone in space. Or on stage at a grand theatre with the spotlight shining only on them as they floated across the grass.

“I’ve never seen you like this before.” Edith whispered. 

“I’ve never dressed like this before.” Rachel whispered back, a hint of laughter in her tone. Edith leaned up on her toes until her small nose touched the tip of Rachel’s pointy one.

“Well I like it.” she whispered again. She glanced between Rachel’s wide eyes and smiled slyly at the way her usually pale cheeks flushed a burning red. Rachel swallowed slightly and smiled, suddenly very shy. 

“I was hoping you would—I-I mean I was hoping  _ everyone  _ would…” she stammered, glancing back at their friends for the first time in a while. The fact that they were all sat watching the pair slow dance with dopey smiles on their faces did nothing to calm her palpitating heart. She felt her face grow redder and she tried to pull away out of embarrassment, but Edith kept her in with a firm hand on her waist. 

“Hey, dickbreath.” Edith whispered gently. The other hand holding hers let go to cradle her jaw gently and force her head to face Edith again. “Eyes on me.” she frowned. Lips firmly sealed, Rachel nodded and a small, satisfied smile graced Edith’s lips. “Great.” 

Edith took control as the music crescendoed, turning their slow waltz into something faster but still rhythmic. The songs changed but no one else got up, and the pair continued to dance, Rachel letting Edith drag her around the grass to dance for the rest of the night. Lost in the fun they were having together, neither of them noticed their friends slowly leaving until Mike wrapped his knuckles on the wood to the back door frame and let them know that he was heading to bed. 

Edith had apparently lied to her mother about staying over at a female friend’s house and would be biking over to Stan’s for the night, but after Rachel had wiped off her makeup and changed back into her stuffy old tuxedo, she let her ride on the back of the bike all the way to Rachel’s house to drop her off. She said it was to ensure that no creep would kidnap her best friend on the walk back to her house, but she left her wondering if that was the only reason she did it when she snuck a quick kiss onto Rachel’s cheek just before she went zipping away on her bike.

All Rachel could say that night when her parents asked her why she was so flushed in the cheeks was that she definitely needed a hat next time to protect her from the chill of the night. But when she crawled under the warm sheets of her bed to go to sleep, it was the memory of Edith’s lips on her cheek that sent a shiver down her spine, not the cold.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope there wasn’t any mistakes and I hope I did Rachel justice :)
> 
> Come talk to me on Twitter at scribblethang or Tumblr at thatfreyja, or come see my art on Instagram at Scribblething!


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